President
Jan Brucker called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and we had
introduction around the table.

Minutes.
The May 15, 2013 minutes were approved as presented.

Bank
Statement. The May
Verity Bank Statement, which was e-mailed to directors was accepted.

NEW
BUSINESS.

Aurora
Rapid Ride. Jonathan
Donj (SDOT) and David Cantey (King County Metro) spoke to us about
transit improvements on Aurora. The Rapid Ride bus will replace the
358 on Aurora. There will be “signal advanced lighting
optimization,” that is, the lights will sense the buses approaching
and help keep the buses moving.

Rapid
Ride will begin on Aurora February, 2014. There will be new buses
and new shelters. The Rapid Ride buses will operate almost 24/7
arriving about every 10-15 minutes most of the day, so you won’t
need a bus schedule. ORCA readers at the Rapid Ride stations will
allow riders to pre-pay and then enter the rear doors of the bus.
There will be checkers on the buses to make sure everyone has paid.
Cash will still be accepted. All stops will have improved lighting,
sidewalk improvements (ADA requirements).

Transit
lanes will be in effect from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to
7:00 p.m., with no parking in effect during those times.

Jan
inquired whether more angle parking could become available on side
streets. Could City engineers help get more parking? Side street
parking is on the agenda, but feedback is needed from the
neighborhoods. The deadline for comments is July 5th.

Melanie
Davies commented she did not see any improvements for pedestrians.
Sidewalks on Aurora are unattractive and unsafe.

Jonathan
told us that the Aurora Merchants had won a lawsuit regarding
sidewalks between North 115th
and North 145th,
but by the time they won, the money was gone.

David
told us the areas with planned Rapid Ride Transit are:

A
– Federal Way – Tukwila;

B
– Bellevue – Redmond;

C
– West Seattle – Downtown;

D
– Ballard – Downtown;

E
– Aurora – Downtown; and

F
– Burien – Sea-Tac – Tukwila – Renton.

Jan
commented on the need for “bigger thinking.” Major, big projects
should pull everyone together to talk about all aspects of the
project. It was noted that there are some interdepartmental groups.
Our neighborhood plan called for deeper commercial zones and alley
development.

Thomas
Whittemore suggested that we look at the Bittler Lake/Broadview plan
update and their alley plan for Linden – Aurora.

Northgate
Urban Design Framework.
Gordon Clowers, Senior Urban Planner with the Seattle Department of
Planning & Development, told us he has been working on Northgate
since the 1990’s. He has been meeting with various groups since
January about the development of the Northgate Transit Center
property. A draft plan will be available in four weeks.

The
pedestrian bridge across I-5 is not 100% for sure. At this time it
is only 50% funded.

The
parking garage, a 50/50 development with the Northgate Mall, would
replace three-quarters of the parking which will be lost from other
locations. The new parking garage will be built first – before the
loss of the Transit Center lot parking.

We
were shown drawings of the development for the site. The new
construction will include buildings from five to eight stories tall.
Next year the former Transit Center property to be developed will be
offered to private developers. The Transit Center will be moved to
the far west of the property. There will be screening to block the
parking garage and visibility from I-5.

There
will be an open house regarding the redevelopment in late July/early
August.

Northwest
District Council. There
was discussion about a letter to the Mayor from the Northwest
District Council in connection with $5 million not going far enough
for needed sidewalks. As a member of the NWDC, LSCC was invited to
comment on the letter.

OLD
BUSINESS.

Halloween
in the Park. Melanie
suggested that we should recruit students to be our Friends of the
Forest .